RangersMedia

The Current State of Affairs at Rangers FC Tuesday, 26 January 2010 01:07 Written by Nvager

On the Field:
At present we are 7 points ahead of Celtic in the race to win the SPL title, albeit Celtic has a game in hand. That is a good lead at this time but we will need it given our spate of injuries and the fact that Celtic is strengthening their squad this month whereas we cannot. Just last week before we played and drew with Hearts some RM members had the nerve to post that if we beat Hearts the title would be ours. They were hopelessly optimistic. We may very well win the title but it will be a hard tight race.

The effect of injuries is pervasive. Add to that Bougherra is absent and playing well for Algeria in the African Cup of Nations in Angola. We are struggling in midfield and up front. Players will soon be back – some already are - but those that suffered long time injuries will struggle for a good while and may pick up more injuries. This includes Beasley, Broadfoot, Thomson, Edu, Naismith, Mendes and Novo. Miller continually struggles with his hamstring and Boyd may take a while to recover his sharpness after a double hernia operation.


In the interim the team is struggling to find the form shown in December. That is when we had pace and width and M& B in top form. Now we have no pace on the wing and M& B are injured. What a difference! We have tried putting Davis wide and playing McCulloch and Thomson in the middle and Whittaker wide left, but it has not worked well at all. McCulloch and Thomson do not gel in the middle as they are too similar and Davis and Whittaker are not wingers. A glimpse of hope is Wylde on the left. He looked like he had pace to burn. Up front Lafferty appears to lack any confidence and has been struggling to win over the fans.


The younger players have been getting more exposure and Wilson has certainly taken his chance. Wylde looks promising with pace, but Little and Fleck still have something to prove. Ness has yet to be given his chance as Walter promised a month or two ago.



Off the Field:


We appear to be in a bit of a mess financially. The last set of accounts indicated that Rangers were in debt at the end of June 2009 to the tune of 31 million pounds. Lloyd’s Bank is making life difficult and again we are not allowed to sign any new players. It is Rangers fault for accumulating the debt and the fingers must point to poor decisions taken by the Rangers management over the past number of seasons.


We have given new contracts to Boyd, Novo and Broadfoot as well as Wilson and Fleck. Beasley has yet to receive any offer of a contract. The senior players have not accepted their offers as yet and the two younger players have turned theirs down.


We are looking for a new buyer, but that does not seem very likely in the current circumstances and the Bank holding out for full repayment of the debt. Sir David Murray’s group of companies has put off publicizing their accounts until the end of April. That should be interesting reading.


Rumours abide and some white knight is always about to come to the rescue, but it never happens. If it does not happen, dire warnings have been issued of a fire sale of players at Ibrox this Summer. In any event it is serious enough that the management team of Walter and his assistants are now working without a written contract. It is serious.



What can we expect in the coming months?


A lot depends on what players recover quickly from injury and regain both match fitness and form.

The critical players in my opinion are Miller, Boyd, Novo, Beasley, Mendes and Edu plus Bougherra. If we can get all of them back at peak form as soon as possible we can and will beat anyone.


We need pace and width and in that regard Beasley and Novo are critical, but in the interim try Wylde. He may surprise us. He may be what we need.



Surprises yet to come:


Lafferty strikes form.

Wylde and Ness surprise us.

A new buyer will arrive and soon.



EXPECTATION:
TITLE # 53



Hope you enjoy it.
Alex

Discuss this article further by clicking on the icon above to enter our forums